Experts talk legal issues on Chinese rig placed in VN’s waters   The conference (Source: VNA) Vietnamese and foreign legal experts are gathering at an international workshop opened in Ho Chi Minh City on July 26 to debate legal issues regarding China’s illegal placement of its Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continent shelf. The foreign experts came from the US, Russia, Italia, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, India, the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. the experts focused on analysing China’s actions from the viewpoint of international law, while discussing the settlement of territorial disputes through political and diplomatic measures regulated in international law. They will also evaluate applying legal measures to solve current disputes in the East Sea as well as explored in depth conditions and mechanisms for beginning a legal proceedings and legal values of judgement of international court and arbitration on the issue. In his opening speech, Prof., Dr. Mai Hong Quy from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law- the host of the event- underlined the necessity of maintaining stability, cooperation and development in the East Sea, which is an international lifeline sea route and holds an important geopolitical position globally.  “Preserving the environment of stability, cooperation and development in the East Sea is an obligation of all nations and a crucial element to ensure peace, security, navigation and aviation freedom and international trade,” Quy said. Scholars will also propose peaceful measures to resolve disputes in the East Sea in general and those between Vietnam and China in particular in line with international law, including the United Nations Charter and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.-VNA